https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 17 May 2026 19:56:34 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870742 Wed, 06 Feb 2019 19:39:53 +0000 brownepiano 2870742@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO 1 had a ton of nursing strikes. The last one was at 10 months and I just gave up and switched to WCM. He was fine.<br /> LO2 I accidentally weaned early because I started weaning feeds at 11 months before a trip and he all the sudden decided he was done too.<br /> I didn't take 1 year literally, more like close to one year and well able and ready to get nutrients in other forms. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870675 Wed, 06 Feb 2019 14:00:58 +0000 Mrs. Turtle 2870675@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: As much as O's feeding issues stressed me out, her unwillingness to drink more than an ounce or two at a time, and general dislike of bottles came in very handy when it was time to wean. I think it was more of a relief for us all than anything else. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870636 Wed, 06 Feb 2019 09:24:40 +0000 periwinklebee 2870636@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: hah hah, yes, I feel like no matter what there's always something to worry about or to make life difficult! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870634 Wed, 06 Feb 2019 09:20:30 +0000 SweetiePie 2870634@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jhd: it really is funny. The amnesia we have. 😂 In so many ways I feel more confident and things have been much easier this time around. But there are a few things where I still feel like such a newb 😆</p> <p>@delight: that’s always been something I’ve been afraid of (not like SCARED, you know what I mean). My sisters kids all took a bedtime bottle till like 3! And it’s not like they aren’t perfectly healthy and well adjusted now, it just seems like a lot more work than necessary 😆</p> <p>@periwinklebee: it’s the ONE time in this whole year that his indifference for bottles has felt like a benefit! You’ll see I made other posts and comments over the last year about how stressful it was that he didn’t drink a ton from bottles but now I’m like “was this a blessing in disguise all along???” This morning I did a bottle of all wcm and he didn’t even blink. He drank it down. And he’s on alimentum which is VERRRY different than milk in terms of taste and he totally didn’t even care.<br /> Didn’t notice yesterday’s two bottles were missing. </p> <p>I’m going to keep the AM and PM bottles of wcm for now just to ease my mind of dehydration going into our trip. Once weren’t back hopefully he’ll be even more into the straw cup and we can at least drop AM. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870628 Wed, 06 Feb 2019 09:10:41 +0000 periwinklebee 2870628@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: This seems like a great outcome! My LO, on the other hand, is obsessed with bottles and angrily refuses if there is any WCM mixed in. He'll go on food strikes signing "milk, milk, milk" (but refuse the sippy of milk or water)and then be up multiple times at night screaming "more, more" (his way of saying he wants food). Ugh... anyways, sorry for the rant, but just to say I think this is awesome and I wouldn't worry one bit :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870615 Wed, 06 Feb 2019 07:07:26 +0000 delight 2870615@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes we started weaning at 10 months when he began biting me every time he nursed. We started giving him bottles of WCM. I wish I had gone to a soppy or straw cup though. He is well over 2 and still loves his bottles. He only has 2 a day now but it’s hard to cut it out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870587 Tue, 05 Feb 2019 22:46:15 +0000 jhd 2870587@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: isn’t it funny how we have done it before but you can still get nervous or forget and it feels all new again! 😂😂 I get nervous about the sudden drop in liquids but you’re right they just need time. We use Dr Browns bottles and I’m excited to be done washing them soon! ;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870582 Tue, 05 Feb 2019 21:48:26 +0000 SweetiePie 2870582@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jhd: omg having only two bottles to wash today felt amazing. Usually we have 4 and for some reason 2 felt like wayyyy less than 4!<br /> I still felt a little worried all day about him not getting enough food or liquid. But I’m like “hello you did this before. They say to drop bottles at a year. This is what youre supposed to do”. And just repeated that over and over. I’m hoping if I keep giving him water he’ll slowly drink more and more. He just has a few sips all day long but I know my older did that too and it just took a little time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870519 Tue, 05 Feb 2019 13:32:08 +0000 jhd 2870519@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: I’m glad to see your update! I hope it goes well and you have a wonderful trip!! G is about six weeks younger so I haven’t tried any milk with him yet but he’s definitely not as interested in bottles. He’s cut way back on the number of bottles and won’t drink much at a time either. I don’t miss those extra bottles to wash and I have a feeling he will be ready to just go straight to a cup of milk (or just water) in a few weeks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870503 Tue, 05 Feb 2019 11:51:30 +0000 MrsSCB 2870503@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm glad you got the OK from the doc to ease your mind! I also started the cow's milk transition before one year. My pumping supply wasn't keeping up with him at that point. He still got 12 oz. of breastmilk at daycare, but at around 10.5 to 11 months I started also sending a sippy of WCM. His pediatrician was totally fine with that! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870482 Tue, 05 Feb 2019 10:15:11 +0000 ALV91711 2870482@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: As scary as it is to just quit something it is kind of nice he gave it up on his own and you didn’t have to fight to wean him. Hope you have a great trip! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2870469 Tue, 05 Feb 2019 09:24:35 +0000 SweetiePie 2870469@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hi, I just wanted to update. </p> <p>Since I posted I started mixing his bottles with 4oz of formula and 2-3oz of wcm. He took it fine and hasn’t had any reaction (he’s on alimentum so I was a little cautious, but it was a nonissue). </p> <p>Well I never had the guts to do a bigger ratio of milk to formula. I was reading how important it is to wait and blah blah blah so I chickened out.</p> <p>Well yesterday he flat out refused his 2 afternoon bottles 11am and 3pm. So after the 3pm I called the ped and asked if I can just not care at this point. He’s 12 days away from being 1yo. She said absolutely, he doesn’t need bottles or formula at this point because he’s so close. She said I can stop both now if I want, I just have to worry about hydration so offering lots of water or wcm in a straw cup all day.<br /> I knew all of this from my 1st but the idea of going sort of cold turkey and before 1 got in my head because I’m so “by the books” for so many things.<br /> So what I’ve landed on is no more formula and only a night time bottle of wcm. I decided I want to keep the night time bottle before the trip because I don’t want to go into it with a changed variable when enough will be changed already. Plus I don’t want to worry about dehydration on a trip and I think if he’s at least getting a night bottle of milk and sipping water through the day, he’ll be fine.<br /> This morning we did the 4/2 split bottle before I decided. I won’t do the 11 or 3 today and instead put some wcm in a straw cup and see if he’s interested. If not I’ll make sure to offer lots of water all day. Tonight I’ll do a bottle that’s like 1oz formula and 5oz wcm just so I can feel like I transitioned vs cold turkey 😂<br /> Tomorrow we’ll do ONLY one bedtime bottle since that’s the only one he really seems to drink without issue every day. I’ll try all wcm in that bottle.<br /> We leave Thursday AM for our trip so I plan to take a couple small scoops of emergency formula. We can buy more down there if shit hits the fan (literally or figuratively). And I’ll bring 2 bottles. We’ll have a kitchen in our suite so I can wash one bottle a day no problem and have 1 backup.<br /> And I got a few single serve cartons of shelf stable milk. All I could find was 2% but I’ll look again for whole and if I can’t find it then oh well. A couple days of 2% won’t kill him. Yeah, I’m livin on the edge. 😂</p> <p>Anyway I just updated in case anyone as neurotic as me looks for this in the future. The thought of being done with bottles and formula FOREVER in the very near future feels so good. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867567 Sat, 19 Jan 2019 15:26:57 +0000 SweetiePie 2867567@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thank you all for giving me the confidence. By nature I’m a total rule follower and do things “by the book”. But if I can at least get him to just drink milk from the bottle, that in itself feels way more doable than lugging around formula and mixing them and all that jazz. I’ll work on milk first and then if I feel up to it I’ll gradually drop bottles. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867341 Fri, 18 Jan 2019 12:36:22 +0000 QBbride 2867341@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would totally switch. Plus it makes getting rid of bottles easier than when they’re a bit older. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867161 Thu, 17 Jan 2019 12:16:51 +0000 kiddosc 2867161@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My second pretty much weaned herself around 10.5-11 months. She was so into table food that she stopped drinking the bottles of BM that I sent, or had to really be coerced to drink them. She continued nursing morning and night for a long time after that, but I think it's totally possible and reasonable to move away from formula and bottles in your case. It's not like some magical switch gets flipped at 1, if your son is more interested in food than formula, I'd say he's ready and go ahead and make the switch. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867159 Thu, 17 Jan 2019 12:13:31 +0000 Mrsbells 2867159@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: just keep in mind that cows milk can cause constipation in some kids. We did almond milk instead and it took time for them to adjust to the taste so definitely start introducing your choice of milk ahead of time </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867156 Thu, 17 Jan 2019 12:03:28 +0000 cyoung 2867156@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes with both my babies around 10 months we slowly start going to cows milk. I get a soft sippy cup. NUK has a great one for transitioning. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867065 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 22:25:43 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2867065@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, we weaned from the bottle to a straw sippy cup before a year and transitioned to WCM. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867057 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 21:08:48 +0000 Sams Mom 2867057@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I switched to soft spout Avent sippy cups and whole milk at 11 months when he weaned. I (with his doctor's blessing) didn't see the point in finding a formula he liked and dealing with bottles any longer than we had to. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867056 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 20:33:04 +0000 Petitduck 2867056@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@petitenoisette: every time I read it in my head I say “white cows milk” even though I know that’s not what it means. Haha </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867050 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 19:54:51 +0000 ALV91711 2867050@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would try to make the switch before you travel. </p> <p>I started DS1 on wcm once a day around 10 month and he BF until 21 months! He had wcm at daycare or if I wasn’t around. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867043 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 18:42:24 +0000 petitenoisette 2867043@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LadyDi: ha I just realized that I’ve always thought of it as white cows milk which also makes no sense. I guess as opposed to chocolate milk :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867024 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:59:47 +0000 SweetiePie 2867024@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bakingdoodle: oh yes I would totally do a slow transition. I was thinking starting now I could mix WCM and formula and then by the time the trip comes around we’ll be fully transitioned. </p> <p>My first was easy breezy getting from formula in a bottle to wcm in a straw cup. And he loved his bottles. So I’m hoping this one is way easier! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867016 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:15:29 +0000 tysonja 2867016@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>my first LO (who was FF by that time) started refusing bottles because of teething around 9.5 months. we had to switch to giving him formula from a straw cup/open cup/spoon. how does your LO do with straws and cups? maybe give it a try now and see if he can mostly catch on by your trip. personally i would be fine starting WCM by 11 months. maybe tote along an extra bottle for bedtime if it seems to help better :). good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867014 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:11:08 +0000 LadyDi 2867014@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pollywog: Oooooh. Duh. Haha, thank you. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867013 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:10:52 +0000 bakingdoodle 2867013@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>my kids couldn't digest WCM right away. Blowouts are no fun... so I would start by doing half WCM/ half formula... and see how he is doing... and he's be ready by the start of your trip. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867012 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:04:31 +0000 Pollywog 2867012@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LadyDi: whole cow's milk 😀 </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867010 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:00:50 +0000 LadyDi 2867010@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pollywog: @DesertDreams88: What is WCM? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2867001 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 15:27:15 +0000 DesertDreams88 2867001@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would not even call about that, haha. We started WCM around 10.5 months; 1x a day before bed because I was tired of her drinking unpredictable amounts before bed and wasting formula. </p> <p>I'm pretty sure she's going to run out of formula 2 weeks before her birthday and there's no way I'm buying more of that expensive stuff. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-start-weaning-bottlesformula-before-a-year#post-2866986 Wed, 16 Jan 2019 14:43:24 +0000 Pollywog 2866986@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were totally on a sippy cup by 11 months. We didn't do wcm, but it can't imagine it would hurt. </p>